I finally get a proper plugin for my computer, and this is what I decide to watch. You didn't disappoint. Makes me miss the Northwoods, *almost* makes me miss you! Can't wait for the next one, man.
I'm egotistical enough to enjoy the mention, and I actually put out 64 issues of Fanboy, all told. Put 'em out mostly ad free and out of pocket, I'd care to add.
A small zine (like eXpressions or Fanboy) or smallish zine-like publication (like the Flip Side or Volume One in its initial year of inception) needs to serve first and foremost as a service to writers and creators within its community. Only by courting the community's best and brightest contributors does a fledgling publication have a chance of flourishing into something that actually gets noticed and read.
Assuming everything you say about eXpressions is true, said Rastafarian publication has never fully realized the importance of truly SERVING its contributors and writers and have thus remained in the obscurist of obscuria. I will give them this--- they seem content with their position and their limited audience and staff.
Good for them, I s'pose. However, as an outsider who ran a far more sucerssful zine* for ten plus years, it looks to me like they're selling themselves short.
Above all, you would think that guys who roll up their sleeves and do a grassroots niche zine where they can sound off about what they like would respect your right to do a similarly personal website without getting hassled.
If anything, their ultimate revenge would be to publish an article that's critical about TRHonline.com. Or they could ignore you like you ignore them.
Naahhh....
(NOTE TO ANYONE FROM eXPRESSIONS WHO MIGHT BE READING THIS:
Jabs aside, you guys sound like a fascinating bunch, and I love networking with other crazy-ass zinesters. The next time you feel the compulsion to call up someone who is somehow connected to Trae, give me a call at 715-225-7140, and we'll talk shop. )
*"Successful zine" is a contradiction in terms, upon reflection.
The Internet is, to paraphrase Jack Venooker, the purest form of communicative anarchy. Anyone can post to it. "Banning" someone from a site or domain name is virtually unenforceable. Anyone can make their own site, and have a shot at getting famous. The Internet is used for political resistance in places like China. It is also used to push much less noble outlaw agendas--- like the agenda of NAMBLA.
To the degree that I have any political leanings, I'm an anarchist. Which is why I consider the Internet to be more capable of good than evil. Of course, any good idea can be misapplied and the best of systems can be abused.... It will be itneresting to see what direction the Internet goes in in the decades to come, and whether or not it becomes a place that is more controlled and less anarchic. I hope not....
As for Internet porn--- that's merely an extension of an age-old industry that thrived before the internet and will continue to thrive even if it somehow gets driven from the Internet. Its cultural, historic and financial autonomy is probably what keeps it so divorced from everything else.
Not to pick nits here Trae, but these "alternate reality" ficiton blogs seem to tell the EXACT SAME "story" as the actual blogs by real college kids on the TRHNetwork, with the names and events (slightly) changed and rearranged. I'm not saying this is a bad endeavor, it just (thus far) seems pointless. I'll watch the story though; hopefully you've got an ace up your sleeve to make it more than just a praphrase of the non-fiction portions of the TRHNetwork. Do you write all of the alternate reality blog entrys yourself? Add in a CIA agent-turned-serial-killer, an android high school chick, and a pot smoking duck. That helped keep my otherwise dull "alternate reality fiction" interesting in college.
To be fair, trae, most fanfic writers should also stop writing because they suck. But the handful of good ones do need to hear that message. (Like Matt Finch; I'm glad he started writing his own stuff, finally.)
Terence came back to Eau Claire? WIll he still be around over the weekend? (And the title of this post sounds like a line from a country song; I'm sorry.)
Although I've been spending almost no time with either of you, I'm not surprised either. Mostly because I go back far enough with both of you that I've always beleived that a breaking point was inevitable between you and her. Looks like you guys took the best tyoe of breaking point possible. Whenever a relationship has lasted as long as Erika's and yours has, I figger it's always better to take a break to think than to just break up.
I hope you two do find a way to reunite and be happy with each other. You guys are soul mates whether you're dating or not.
God, I'm starting to sound like that Doctor Phil fruit. Must take a shower, and use lava soap on my soul....
Buchanan on city council, Trae and Haas lose... This confirms my darkest suspicions about how the system works.
Seriously, how did Buchanan win? He's the opposite of charismatic, and is in fact a creepy mindless chode who easily becomes the puppet of any fast talker he encouters. How did he.... oh right. I cna only hope Werthman still has his hand up Buchanan's ass, cuz anyone else who would control that high functioning idiot would probably be worse.
We've gotta get Erika some kind of real (non student) office. I mean, she's got a touch of avarice and a touch of megaolomania, but at least she's got good politics and a mind of her own.
Trae--- as an Eau Claire expatriot, I'm not 100% in-the-know. How did Benny Haas do in HIS race? And don't feel bad. Students never win. It's a combination of their percieved inexperience and their unwillingness to fight dirty, since small local races tend to be crooked. The amount of votes you got is indeed impressive.
I don't hate you either. No matter how many times I've said I hate you in the past, no matter how many times I'll continue to keep saying it--- I don't. :)
Good luck with whatever extra stress you've taken on. Stress is less fun than ever in February.
"Funny and kind of scary" describes Trae in a nutshell.
On the presupposition that I'll never have to deal with most of you face to face with any regularity--- here's a very deeply personal/embarassing memory I have about Trae:
I was molested as a kid. When I finally was able and willing to tell someone what had happened, I told it to Trae, in gasping sobs, and he talked me through it. This is the worst time I've ever had with Trae, AND it's my best memory of Trae and what a selfless person he can be.
On a lighter note, I have plenty of memories of Trae's odd uniqueness--- like how he sharpens his drawing pencils with a pocket knife, or his absolute command of obscure TV show trivia, or him explaining to me--- in a loud, animated voice--- that Silence of the Gams is the worst porno ever made.
Obligatory Trae and Erika memory: The party at my place, where Buffalo kept trying to give a very sleepy and disoriented Erika a ride home, and me and all the other guys ran Buff out of the house, informing him bluntly that he would be leaving the party ALONE, after which we let Trae druive her home without question or incidence. We had decided at some point in the night that the only person we were willing to entrust Erika's safety to was Trae. It's a decision me and the boys are proud of to this day. :)
Could be worse. Women--- usually socipathic, unstable, but strangely cute (to me at least) women--- DO think I'm interesting and attractive. And I'm always too neurotic to follow through. There is no such thing as the right way to attract a woman or man, Kaje. But if I had any advice it would be not to stop thinking about wanting to date, but to stop thinking about it as often as you (obviously do). Not because such a change in approach will increase your odds. It might; it might not. Do it because that change in approach will at least make you a little happier. As long as I've known you, you've struck me as perpetually insecure and sad. Learn to drop it for a few hours a day for your own sake. Then reasess how you personally can attract a mate. Cuz any answer that comes from outside of you will be bullshit.
"To me, student politics invariably descends into being one big, sodding popularity contest."
True. But then, "real" politics aren't much different. I suspect Kerry lost the U.S. presidential race because he seemd like he wouldn't be nearly as much fun to party with as Bush.
The odd thing, Niles (or is it Miles? I'm bad with names) is that Aaron is a pretty tolerable guy on a social level. I've always seen his sociopathic behavior in Student Senate as a forgiveable personal hangup. I might think otherwise were I one of his fellow senators, I'll grantcha.
---David (determined at this point to post something that doesn't get deleted on principle)
